Zmiany skórne w przebiegu ostrej białaczki szpikowej – opis przypadku

Abstract

Introduction. Acute myeloid leukaemia is a malignant neoplastic diseaseof white blood cells. About 80% of acute leukaemias in adult arediagnosed as myeloid leukaemias. The presence of transformed cellclones in bone marrow and blood, which originate from very earlystages of myelopoiesis, is characteristic. Beside systemic symptoms(anaemia, thrombocytopenia) there are infiltrations in other organs,including skin. Skin lesions are most frequently non-specific (pruritus,skin spots, erythema multiforme, bullous pemphigoid) but can be alsospecific (skin tumours). Cases of diffuse xanthomatoses and myeloidsarcoma have also been found in patients with acute myeloidleukaemia. Skin lesions are present more often in lymphocytic thanmyeloid leukaemias. They may precede the disease or its relapse, occurconcomitantly or after systemic symptoms, and sometimes may be ofprognostic value.Objective. To present the case of a patient in whom skin lesions werethe cause of detailed examinations, which revealed acute myeloidleukaemia.Case report. We present a case of a 61-year old patient with purplebrownnodular lesions 1-3 cm in diameter on the face, scalp skin, trunk,limbs and the oral cavity’s mucous membranes with coexistent intensepruritus and generalized lymphadenopathy. The first skin lesionsoccurred three months earlier. During hospitalization in the Departmentof Dermatology the renewal of blasts in the circulatory blood wasobserved and skin biopsy revealed a large amount of mononuclearcells. The patient was directed to the haematological ward, where thediagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia was established.Conclusions. Our case indicates that the presence of skin lesions andthorough diagnostic procedures may contribute to the diagnosis ofmalignant neoplastic diseases of white blood cells.

Keywords

• acute myeloid leukaemia
• skin manifestations
• immunophenotyping